Thankful Thursday #6

Some of my cousins and second cousins. Love them!

How are the weeks going by so quickly lately? Seriously, it's Thursday already? What?

Anyway, this week I haven't really thought much about what I'm thankful for, so I'm kind of struggling to write this post, but I think it's because I've had a really good week (in a very ordinary way - i.e.. I was relatively healthy and nothing terrible happened), so this week I am thankful for:

Extended family - I may have mentioned before that I have an absolutely ginormous extended family, and I'm incredibly thankful that at my uncle's 50th on Saturday night I got to see many of them. Get togethers with the Cioffi's are always a memorable and amazing experience. I can't explain my love for my aunts and uncles, my cousins (all 14 of them) and their kids (all 21 of them). It is an amazing thing that our family is so large, yet so close to each other.

Car pooling - one of my friends from school who was a few years younger than me goes to uni the same time as me on Wednesdays and lives about 2 minutes away from me, so we decided to car pool! Besides not having to drive every second Wednesday now, I am so glad of the company on the drive and getting to chat with a friend on the way to uni and back. Still feeling a little on the outer since moving back home, so this simple little thing has helped a lot.

Rain - It's finally cooled dan enough to have soup for dinner and wear jeans over here with the last few days being a rainy and cool 20ish degrees and I'm kinda, surprisingly grateful! I'm a summer baby through and through, but we've had ridiculously hot weather since last September, so I'm feeling grateful for a drop in temperature and an excuse to snuggle on the couch!

Good news - I found out on the weekend that one of my cousins is having a baby in August! I'm so happy for him and his wife! He was my absolute idol growing up and mum always tells this story of how when I was 18 months, I had Giardea and he was only about 12 or something but I wouldn't go to mum or dad or any of my aunties, because I only wanted him and he held me for 5 hours while I screamed my head off in emergency. If anyone needs proof that he is destined to be the most fantastic dad ever, there it is! He will be so great and I'm so excited!

Love From the Interwebs

One of my favourite things in the world is Leona's Wednesday Loves posts, because we both have such similar taste. I know these type posts aren't uncommon, but the fact that I love discovering and sharing new things so much means that I've decided to jump on the copycat bandwagon. BUT I am going o give myself a limit of five things to share each week and try to make them different from each other. Oh, and there will always be at least one thing related to Harry Potter. So, without further ado!

These tea cup lights are so cute! I'm saving this project for when I own my own home, and have enough power over Jake to convince him to make them for me. They'd be great mood lighting! Since Pinterest didn't have a proper link to the DIY with instructions, I guess I can count myself lucky that my boyfriend is a sparky. These lights will be mine someday!

This house tour with Andrea McArdle on A Beautiful Mess is just like a vision of my perfectly decorated home! Who isn't into the mid-century look these days? Besides, I'm about to move and the most excited part of moving is redecorating! If only I had a couch that awesome!

My friend Darci sent me this pin, and the caption was "After the Battle of Hogwarts, the Dementors had to start taking more drastic approaches.."I think it's so clever and funny! I probably wouldn't think it was funny if I was the poor girl lying on the ground with no soul, though!

I can so relate to this meme. Pinterest, thou art an expensive bitch. 

Last of all, how delicious do these sugar cookie bars look? They reming me of 100's and 1000's biscuits which I always used to beg mum to buy me as a kid. I can't remember the amount of times my sister and I snuck them into the shopping trolley. Mum used to get so pissed at us because they're basically just sugar and they're quite expensive. I'll have to give this recipe a go to relive childhood memories. Although it calls for shortening and I have no idea what that is, except there's a song about shortening bread which mum used to sing to us as kids. 

An A to Z of Me: F is for...

F is for Family

Ahh, family! What can I say? I honestly could. not. live. without my amazing, crazy, emotional, family. They are the best people ever, in my opinion and we are all so close, it's amazing. My mum comes from quite a big family - she is one of seven kids, so there are plenty of aunts and uncles and cousins and second cousins around. Whenever I think of family, it's not just mum, dad, my sister and brother who spring to mind, it's all of them! The aunties, the uncles, the whole 21 first cousins and their kids and everything! We have the best get togethers ever. I love being around the crazy Cioffi's. It's always hilarious hearing what my aunties come up with to say and the atmosphere is amazing! 

Three of my cousin's kids with my crazy little bro at our most recent family thing

I suppose I don't really identify with dad's family much, since it is so small with just his mum, his brother and his half-brother left now. I used to love my Grandad so much! He was like my best friend and I miss him every single day, but Im not really that close to dad's other family. My last name might be Reilly, but even dad agrees that I am a Cioffi at heart! Loud, boisterous, opinionated, stubborn, emotional, straight forward, but above all LOVING! These are the qualities I associate with the Cioffi family. These are the qualities which I am proud to say that I inherited from my mother, from Nanu and from Nanna. 

I never got to meet Nanu and Nanna. Cancer took them both away too early. Nanna died when my mum was 14. Out of all 21 of us grandkids, she only got to meet one. Nanu died when mum was in her mid-twenties. Mum is the only one of his children who didn't have at least one child when he died. Mum still gets emotional about that - she wishes her parents got to see us so much! I tell her it's okay though - we have heard all the stories and we have them in our hearts. 

I'm getting a little emotional writing this... I didn't think I would, but I am absolutely getting overwrought with memories, with regrets and with love. That is the Cioffi in me coming to life. That's Nanu, right there inside of me. Now I am smiling. I would have loved to meet that great, crazy man so much! In my eyes, Nanu is an idol. He is this big, burly Maltese man with a thick accent and a crazy moustache. Yes, I know I can tell all this from the photos, but you don't understand. I have heard enough of the stories that in my mind's eye that he comes to life! I can see him now, tinkering in the shed. Always fixing things, he was! I can see him cooking dinner. I can hear him swearing at my mum as he tries to get his words out in English in the right order. Fuck was a filler to Nanu. So easy to say when he couldn't think of the right words in English! I have never heard a bad word about my mum's parents. They lived a tough life, they moved to Australia and they made something for themselves! They were wonderful people by every person's account.

A fun fact about my mum and her siblings - they were born in four different countries! While my Nanu was Maltese, he first met my Nanna in England. That is where they married and had the first three of their seven children. They then moved to Malta for a while, and had their fourth child there. When they came back to the UK they had another child in England, and them my mother was born in Wales. My mum was two years old when they migrated to Australia and Nanna was pregnant with my uncle at the time. He is the only Australian-born of my mum's family, but now my mum is the only one who still isn't an Australian Citizen. Thank you so much for that mum - you have left the door wide open for me to one day move to the UK!

Wow, this post is getting so long, and I still haven't spilled anything about my immediate family! My mum and dad met when dad was 21 and mum was 23. They were together for seven years before they married, and I am their oldest child born two years after their wedding. I'm not too sure what to say about my mum and dad other than that they are great people. Everyone thinks their parents are great people though, right? My mum is my absolute number one role model. I love her so much! She has been through so much in her life, came out the other end and has gotten so far in life. She is such a loving, caring, nurturing woman. She just gives and gives and gives and never expects anything in return. She has always put her family first and I couldn't have asked for a better mother. I don't know how she does all that she does, but I love her for it and appreciate it all so much! 

My beautiful mum on her honeymoon!

Mum and dad are so different - it really is true that opposites attract! They have been together now for almost 30 years. Dad is such a legend in my eyes - he has taught me so much, is such an intelligent man, and yet he is such a genuinely cool bloke at he same time. He was the cool kid when he was younger who smoked pot and surfed all day, wagging school when the waves were on. Even now, if you met him you would know he was that guy, and yet he is so smart! I honestly believe that I inherited my brains from my father. Unfortunately, I lucked out on his sportiness which was passed on to my sister and brother. Oh well, you can't have everything, or so they say!

Dad in his man cave

Dad is such an interesting man with so many stories to tell. He has done many an amazing job, he has lived a good life and he is passionate about so much stuff! Dad is the kind of guy who makes friends for life, and he still has many of the friends he went to school with. I love my dad so much, and he loves us kids more than anything else on this earth. That's what holds my parents together, I think. They are both lovers.

Dad and my brother when he was a bubba!

My sister and I never got along when we were little, but as we have grown older we just get closer and closer. She is two and a half years younger than me, and my brother is two and a half years younger than her. Shoni is so beautiful and so sporty - I seriously envy her so much! Kobi is a total character - just like a mini version of dad, complete with smart-arse attitude and surfboard under one arm. The other day he asked mum if he could have the day off to go surfing. It was his second day back at school after holidays, the little bugger! At least he asked though, and respected mum and dad's decision. That's one thing the three of us all have in common - we respect mum and dad so much. What they say goes, end of story. That's a rare quality in teenagers, I guess so mum and dad are lucky to have us! Har-har!

          

Me, aged 6 with Shoni (4) and Kobi (1)

My relationships with my family have been built out of honesty, trust and love. I am lucky to have such a great family, I know, and to have had such a great childhood! I miss my family so much since I moved. I miss mum and dad, Shoni and Kobi, my aunty Bridget who lives in the house behind ours and all my cousins in Coraki. They are the ones I saw the most when I lived with mum and dad. Family is a massive part of my life. My family have shaped me into the person that I am today, and I am so blessed to have them all!

A rare family photo, taken at my school formal, featuring Aunty Bridget on the left, Jake in the middle and Nan on the right.